AMERICA AND THE WAR

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17192, 12 June 1916, Page 4

AMERICA AND THE WAR

PUBLIC FEELING ANALYSED

INTERESTING LETTER TO MR JUSTICE PENNISTON.

Mr Justice Ijeiinlston has received the following letter from Mr Sinclair Kennedy., of Brooklino, Mass., the well-known author of "Fan-Angles":

Thinking yon will welcome in these dark days a little encouragement from this side of the water. I wish to tell you some of the things that have recently demonstrated public feeling in America.

The American Rights Committee, of which you are doubtless aware, and whose pro-ally rally in New York City a few weeks ago was commented on by the newspapers and watched appreciatively by many outside of New York City, was merely one sign of the times'. A New York friend has written to me on the bottom of one of their form letters "A meeting is talked of for 'Lusitania Day. ' understand this American Rights Committee is in favour of immediate entry by this country into the war on 1 the side of the Allies. Manv letters and articles that a year ago would have been considered "unneutral" and to bo rejected, are now to be seen daily in any newspaper-- nt any event, in the eastern newspapers which T am accustomed to see It is rarely that even a lone letter-writer says anything in support of the Teutons. The other day 1 had occasion to desire to buy some copies of "The Fatherland-' or March 22, 1916 in order to obtain from it copies of ail attack that paper then mode, on ''The Pan-Angles." In so searching, I wont to the principal wholesale news dealers and to several of the large hotels. In somo of the hotels I was treated with a scornful negative replv, such as "We don't stock it. Theidealers who handled the paper told me the demand for it was net as great ns formerlv, and I inferred from their various comments that Boston is today consuming about one-half as many copies of the paper as in the car y months of the war. These dealers told mo the same thing about the pro-Ger-man Irish papers. In \p-il, as one oi about one tliouG nnd T attended Tremout Temple, which was half-filled at a mass meetin- called by "The Citizens -Committoo for Food Shipments;' m favour or monev for milk for the babies ot "Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Poland." An advertising man of whom 1 had never heard, . presided. lho Governor of the State. owing to press of other engagements, was unable to be present. And the same was stated of the Mayor of the city. \ Boston Democratic Congressman ot Irish extraction, also a ™tirca Democratic ex-Ambassador to Greece, Hon George Fred Williams, and coitain German-Americans spoke x board German spoken by many o the audience, among whom 1 recognised • "one face that I had seen before Cad L Schur*, whose father Carl Schurz. you know as ono ot the bra" of American publicists and "loimeis, told the meeting that as to tho fact that at the siogo ot Pans in 18/I,no milk was allowed to enter the «tt for the babies of Pans, "such pelons as raise these arguments an the' arguments themse ves are beneath contempt." All of the sneakers laid Son their American citizenship. The "Transcript" next day gave three inches to the meeting, which passed apparently unnoticed. It was the i.rst pro-Germau meeting I have attended, and was -very harmless and wanting in men who stand for or make public opinion. Such meetings do no harm to the cause of the Allies, and then diminishing vitality is a sign of the " The working of the German propaganda and its money is difficult to discover, but the public is learning to suspect it in many guises, even in places where 1 imagine it is totally non-existent. I expect to see the peace societies put under a cloud in tho near future, if they are not now already a little bit obscured by the anti-Teuton mist. There have been various attempts to capture the trades unions in order to produce strikes, tores and--blow-ui>s in various munition plants, and, these various affairs having been proved to be stimulated from German sources, the public indulge in all sorts of suspicions of German activity. , ~ , Andrew Carnegie has, I believe, done moro harm to this country, and, possibly, to the British Isles, than any other one mail who has lived during the last century- Ho has, through hi? Peace Foundation and affiliated societies, aroused in the minds of thousands of worthy but unthinking people a feeling that m some man-made form a way can be found out of the struggle for existence between competing groups of people. This drugging of human reason has been so extensively indulged in by our American public, that it will bo years before popular opinion can seo with any degree of claritv the forces working between and on the various groups called nations. I often think of Price Collier's 1913 remark in hi 3 "Germany and the Germans " : "Mr Carnegie will have lived long enough to see more wars and international disturbances, and more discontent born of superficial reading, than any man in history who was at the same time so closely connected with their origin. Perhaps it wero better after all if our millionaires were educated!" ' Henry Ford, uneducated man with the natural feeling of an uneducated man that, having succeeded in one lino of business, he is competent to have success in another" has been merely a further and continuing drugging influence, as evidenced by the heavy vote ho received in Michigan the other day as a "favourite" son for, a Presidential nomination. Such men, when their American idealism is backed by money, can produce enormous effects on popular opinion. It is results such as the "anti-pre-paredness" movement that show thestrength of the peace, non-rcsister. and passive resister elements in the population. In New York City the other day the Anti-preparedness League affixed to United States enlistment advertisements appeals to men not to enlist. Also, doubtless, you have Ireard of the iiftecn-foot dinosaur which is to be paraded with words attached suggesting it died out because it was too hcavilv armoured, and is to be accompanied by speakers. Nevertheless, this anti-preparedness attack would not bo necessary from the point of view of the pacifist, if ho did not realise the arousing of the country that is now gonig on"in favour of preparation against war. In this preparedness talk, winch 1 am myself endeavouring to increase and extend, a most striking fact is that not a man or a newspaper in this country which I have not yet seen or heard' of has ever stated as a reason for our greater military preparedness that Canada expects to raise and train half a million soldiers just over our northern frontier. The fact that Americans can regard this huge force of Canadian soldiery without disapproval, and that the ( J7th Overseas Canadian Battalion is to Tie composed exclusively of American-horn, is to m©

a very significant sign of Englishspeaking trust and sympathy. Moreover, it has been suggested Americans should contribute decorations to the new Toronto Capitol, and that this maylead to Canadian and American contributions for decorations in buildings in Canberra. The recent forwarding to Europe of the document signed by 000 Americans expressing their sympathy with tho cause of the Allies, is merely a straw to show which way tho wind is blowing. I think so far as you are concerned with American affairs you may, temporarily at least, he of a tranquil mind.

Public opinion lias now reached that point where almost anything against Germany will lie believed, and if a story is started maligning tho British or French, tlio narrator is cross-ques-tioned for proof, and other signs of dissent arc noticeable. In short, although Americans may 'be officially neutral, tlio people hereabouts are entirely not so. During the past month I have talked to various audiences to stimulate enrolment in the military training 1 camps, which, under Federal auspices, began in a small way in 3913. and started to grow more noticeable last summer. 1 find that pro-Ally allusions produce enthusiasm. At New Bedford recently an audience of 450 applauded enthusiastically my question: "Who kept the Germans off our back in the Spanish war?—The British Fleet." Tho attitude of tho educated men with whom I speak hereabouts is one of open earnestness, and an endeavour to weigh the pros and con 9 of possible American entry into the war. Of course every man has\o bo primarily concerned with his own nation's welfare, and I think you will not feel distressed if I suggest that the educated classes in the British Isles do not think that the Britannic Empire is fighting against Germany for the sake of Belgium as Belgium. With this natural desiro of Americans to consider primarily the interests of America, there is an increasing realisation that America's interests are inevitably hound up in tho success of Britain and its Allies. The discussion of our possible entry into tho war is often translated , in the minds of many men who think in terms of party politics into a bitter opposition to President Wilson. _ This opposition is a reminder of the similar opposition to President Washington during the Franco-British strugglo for world supremacy as it was manifested during his administration. Possibly the desire to enter the war is strengthened in the minds of some sueh men because President Wilson thus far has avoided entering the war. But entirely apart from this political antagonism, the nonparty advocacy of entry into the war is gaining.

The political situation is one, so far as the Republicans are concerned, of great complexity. Here on the Atlan-tic-Northern seaboard many pcoplo think that tho Republican party stands for a more vigorous policy toward Mexico or Germany, or both. Just what this vigour does or should consist of, no Republican politician seems bold enough to proclaim. Root and Roosevelt, eighteen months after the violation of Belgium, are ready to denounce the Administration for not acting differently under the circumstances. But some of the public remember that Root, in the fall of 1914. was tho chairman of tho Senate Committee en Foreign Affairs, and was singularly silent about Belgium, and that Roosevelt, September 23. ,1914, in the " Outlook " (New York) stated that wo Americans were not justified in taking any action about 'Belgium, no matter how much our sympathies might be affected. In the middle, west, I understand that such leading Progressives or Republicans as Cummins, La Follette and Sherman are -acknowledge pacifists, and Henry Ford obtained the highest vote of Michigan as a "favourite son" for a possible Presidential nomination. I hear that the middle west complains that Wilson is too vigorous in his foreign policy, ft appears to me that Wilson at the present time has no competitor, and I hear that many of the Republican editors of the middle west have come out in his favour. In short, I imagine we are seeing a realignment of parties—Wilson representing the Conservatives, and sueh men as Roosevelt and Bryan representing discordant wings of the Radical opposition. The outstanding fact is that not even Roosevelt can bring himself to express his opinion on what we should do. cither toward Mexico or Germany, except that we ought not to behave as Wilson has been behaving. Meanwhile New England, New York, New Jersey and Delaware have come out almost solidly in favour of greater military and naval preparedness. One sign was the voting on the Kahn Amendment in the House of Representatives, which advocated in creasing the army to 2120,000 instead of the 14*6.000 asked for by the Administration. This amendment" was lost, only ten States voting solid for it, while fifteen States making a solid South, voted against it. Nevertheless, from New England is spreading a propaganda of adequate preparedness. You arc as good a judge as I am of how far it will extend. Personally,' I believe these Eastern ideas will gradually spread West with increasing force and that Wilson will develop his policy in accord with the. spread of these ideas. If so, it will not be tho first time that New England lias successfully inaugurated a great national policy. Here in Massachusetts, a plan to permit the federnlisation of the militia in case Congress passes appropriate legislation, has already been carried. Already the idea of federalising tho militia of tho fortyeight separate States is being called " the Massachusetts ideia_"" I see no-

thing in this spread of preparedness which is hostile to the Allies. Whether this present hostility towards Germany increases to the point oi war denpends upon subsequent events. One sueh possible subsequent event that might i quickly convert this enormous mass of |latent hostility to Germany into activi ity would lie the very possible departure of the German Embassy from Washington, an event that seems near. One of the phenomena which has : most stimulated my imagination has ihecn tho forbearance of the Englishspeaking Press all over the world toward American public opinion. We have learned a great deal since tho days of the Civil War and even since the clays of tho South-African war. The cartoon in " Punch " representing Wilson as more patient than Job would have been an excellent cartoon in times of peace. Yet even in our present troublous times I think it did practically no harm. The Press which deserves, from my observation, the most credit for this* forbearance, is that of Canada, excerpts from which are being constantly published in our papers, and thus helping the cause , of the Allies. Nothing in <hi-< letter is confidential. Yon may use any or nil of it in any way you think will promote Englishspeaking svmpathy. Mav I. 1916.